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NSRL User Guide

III. Technical Data

Beam Ion Species and Energies

For electronics testing at NSRL, please refer to the NSRL SEE Library (.pdf, 147 kB), as a guideline for what beams you should choose to scan through a range of LETs. These beams are maintained to be reliable and readily available. With these ions and energies, our remote operated polyethylene energy degrader can be used to reach any interstitial energy to produce the desired LET at the article of interest. When communicating beam requests, please list the ion and energy incident on your device and the base SEE Library beam and any necessary degrader will be determined for you. The list below can be used as a guide to determine what ions and energies from library beams can produces specific LETs in a silicon target.

The SEE Library does not include the full range of ions and energies that are available. If you would like to request beams beyond the library list for SEE testing, please refer to the Full Ion & Energy list below and communicate with NSRL personnel as to why you wish to use the alternatives.

Please refer to the NSRL StackUp tool and contact an NSRL liaison if you need additional assistance.

LET Based Ion List using the NSRL SEE Library

LET in Silicon
MeV/(mg/cm2)
Ion & Energy
MeV/n
Range in Si
mm
0.1C @ 30093.92
0.5Si @ 37055.43
1Ti @ 50063.1
2Fe @ 27019.73
3Fe @ 1426.74
4Nb @ 41726.65
5Nb @ 27013.28
6Nb @ 1998.06
LET in Silicon
MeV/(mg/cm2)
Ion & Energy
MeV/n
Range in Si
mm
7Ag @ 2469.97
8Ag @ 1976.95
9Ag @ 1635.09
10Tb @ 38116.81
12.5Tb @ 2478.51
15Ta @ 2789.26
20Bi @ 2738.06
25Bi @ 1804.22
LET in Silicon
MeV/(mg/cm2)
Ion & Energy
MeV/n
Range in Si
mm
30Bi @ 1302.59
35Bi @ 1001.75
40Bi @ 791.24
45Bi @ 640.92
50Bi @ 530.70
55Bi @ 440.55
60Bi @ 360.44
   

 

Full Ion & Energy Capabilities

Ion Species [1] Max Energy [2]
(MeV/n)
LET in Si at Max Energy [6]
(MeV/(mg/cm2))
Peak LET in Si
(MeV/(mg/cm2))
Range in Si
(mm)
Max Flux [3]
(ions/spill)
H1 2500 0.00171 0.51 5470 2.2x1011
He4 1500 0.006919 1.5 2960 0.3 x 1010
C12 1000 0.0630 5.2 591 1.2x1010
O16 1000 0.1140 7.3 435 0.4x1010
Ne20 1000 0.178 9 351 1.2x1010
Si28 1000 0.351 14 248 0.3x1010
Ar40 1000 0.600 18.7 207 0.02x1010
Ti48 1000 0.854 24.2 175 0.08x1010
Fe56 1000 1.189 29.3 146 0.2x1010
Kr84 383* 3.3 41 26.9 2.0x107
Nb93 520 3.6 47.4 37.5 1 x 107
Ag107 575 4.65 59.4 17.9 6 x 106
Xe129 350* 7.67 69.3 16.1 5.0x107
Tb159 446 9.32 78.2 21.4 4.0x107
Ta181 390* 12.7 87.7 15.6 4.5x107
Au197 242* 19.2 94.4 6.9 1.0x108
Bi209 385 17.0 100.0 13.5 7.0x107
High Charge State Beams (Lower Max Beam Intensity)
Kr84 721 2.54 41 70.5  
Xe129 589 6.1 69.3 35.8  
Au197 400 15 94.4 14.9  

Any ‘LET in water’ values given at NSRL specifically reference the LET of the primary beam ion. Other terminologies such as track-average or dose-average LET values include additional components from all particles produced alongside the primary beam. See these papers for more information.

  • A systematic review on the usage of averaged LET in radiation biology for particle therapy
    Fredrik Kalholm et al. 2021 Radiotherapy and Oncology 161
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radonc.2021.04.007
  • A Monte Carlo study of different LET definitions and calculation parameters for proton beam therapy
    Edward A K Smith et al. 2022 Biomed. Phys. Eng. Express 8 015024
    https://doi.org/10.1088/2057-1976/ac3f50.
  • Analysis of the track- and dose-averaged LET and LET spectra in proton therapy using the geant4 Monte Carlo code.
    Guan F et al. Med Phys. 2015 Nov;42(11):6234-47
    https://doi.org/10.1118/1.4932217
Ion Species [1] Max Energy [2]
(MeV/n)
LET in H2O at Max Energy
(keV/micron)
Peak LET
(keV/micron)
Range in H2O
(mm)
Maximum Intensity [3]
(ions per spill)
H1 2500 0.206 84.3 10490 2.2 x 1011
He4 1500 0.84 237 5550 0.3 x 10^10
C12 1500 7.55 922 1856 1.2 x 1010
O16 1500 13.4 1306 1391 0.4 x 1010
Ne20 1000 21.9 1637 657 0.10 x 1010
Si28 1000 43.4 2519 463 0.3 x 1010
Ar40 1000 74.2 3268 387 0.02 x 1010
Ti48 1000 105.6 3924 327 0.08 x 1010
Fe56 1000 147 4706 274 0.2 x 1010
Kr84 721 314 6221 132 2.0 x 107
Nb93 520 594 6690 70 1 x 107
Ag107 575 576 8470 70.7 3.5 x 106
Xe129 589 761 9788 68.3 5.0 x 107
Ta181 390 1297 12300 27.1 5.0 x 107
Au197 400 1865 13140 27.7 1 x 108
Bi209 380 21.8 2124 24.6 7.0x107
Sequential Field Various Various Various Various Various
Solar Particle Event [5] Various Various Various Various Various
GCR Simulation Various Various Various Various Various

Ions denoted with asterisk indicate that higher energy beams are available, but with a reduction in intensity of one or two orders of magnitude.

The max flux column indicates the total number of beam ions that can be distributed across the beam area. Approximately 50% of the ions in a spill will not be part of the usable uniform area. You can estimate the maximum beam intensity we can provide for your test by dividing the quoted flux by the uniform area you require with this estimated loss factor (e.g. max flux/[1.5∙(area in cm2)]).

Contact NSRL personnel for more information.

[1] Different isotopes of some ions are also available.  With the commissioning of EBIS, the Electron Beam Ion Source and the Laser Ion Source, virtually all ion species can be available.

[2] In general it has become fairly routine to change beam energy, and if a beam energy is not listed in this table, there is not necessarily any reason why it cannot be tuned up at the request of a user.

[3] Intensity per spill refers to the number of ions delivered each spill.  The spill structure during most radiobiology exposures has a 4 second repetition time.  During the 4 second period, the ions are extracted more or less uniformly in time during a 0.3-0.4 second spill, followed by a ~3.6 second beam-off time.  For protons, the maximum beam intensity is delivered when using the LINAC as the ion source.  If using the Tandem as the ion source instead, the maximum proton beam intensity is 2.5 x 1011 protons per spill.

[4] LET, or Linear Energy Transfer is calculated for a water target and is in units of keV per micron.  More detailed LET distributions can be viewed here.

[5] SPE: The August of 1972 solar proton event (SPE) represents one of the largest events on record and the simulated spectra will consists of protons from a few 10's of MeV to 1 GeV that will approximately represent the Joseph King fit to the observed spectra given by the following equation

Φ(E) = 2.98x108  e-(E-30)/26.5

where E is the proton energy in MeV. The September and October 1989 events represent spectra with larger contributions from high energy protons and will be represented by the integral rigidity spectra

Φ(R)= N e-R/R0

with R0 = 110 MV.

For guidance on expected energy spectra of protons and secondaries behind tissue or other experimental materials including simulation of spacecraft shielding please contact BNL or NASA JSC staff.

[6] LET, or Linear Energy Transfer is calculated for a silicon target, and is in units of MeV-cm2/mg. Graph of Range in silicon versus LET (.pdf)

NSRL is available to operate blocks of time for SPE simulations in either the standard (20x20 cm2) or a large beam configuration (60x60 cm2). BNL staff will work with approved experiments to facilitate beam sharing during the large beam SPE blocks.